Negative pressure therapy has been one method used for the treatment of a variety of wounds by practitioners in the art. Conventional negative pressure therapy devices are generally large in size and often require the use of complicated equipment such as suction pumps, vacuum pumps and complex electronic controllers. Additionally, U.S. Patent Pre-Grant Publication Nos. 2007/0265585 and 2007/0265586, the entire contents of which are herein incorporated by reference, also disclose negative pressure therapy devices.
Since the negative pressure therapy devices utilize negative pressure, it is desirable to minimize the opportunity for leaks in same, so as to prevent increased damage to the patient and/or wound, or unnecessarily prolonged damage to the patient and/or wound.
With respect to a wound located on a foot, there are specific drawbacks involving the time needed to deploy a conventional negative pressure wound therapy device. In addition, due to the shape of a foot, obtaining a satisfactory seal over the wound can be problematic and contribute to the increased time needed to deploy a conventional negative pressure wound therapy device.
Other wound locations on a patient's body may present drawbacks and problems similar to those associated with a wound on a foot. Therefore, nothing in this description should be meant to restrict the present invention to be used only with a wound on a foot. Rather, as would be appreciate by one of ordinary skill in the art, the benefits of the present invention can be appreciated and utilized through use of with any wound that is susceptible to negative pressure wound treatment.
While current negative pressure wound therapy devices are presumably effective for their intended purposes, there is a need for a device that allows a medical professional flexibility in placing the negative pressure wound therapy device, so as to provide the patient with a comfortable and efficient treatment.